Red

Watching the Leicester tribute on MOTD made me wonder if the proverbial "final straw" for Reed's sacking was the high regard Leicester fans (quite rightly) have for both their owner and Puel (in the way he has conducted the entire club and himself during this whole tragic affair)? Reed presumably told Gao Puel was bad for us and needed replacing, and has since gone on to be a great ambassador for his new club and doing ok in the league (well at least much better than us), while we are all at sea. Shurlock probably knows better as he has spent some time there, but the Chinese are great on respect, admiration, and not wanting to lose face.

Quite. Just like the name - it is not the Ownership Board. It may be the Board the owners have chosen to run the club, but those 5 are not all owners - at best 3 are. Is this more of the Ralph made up words/phrases like "Space, Open Minds, Satellites, Percentage Points"

The owner can be contacted here: landersports@lander.com.cn Be warned though, the resident fishwife's on here will have a coronary if you dare criticise him - only they are allowed to do that, and then only on a sad forum not in person

"arguably" dear boy "arguably" Not asking anyone to agree with or even do the same - just saying what I have done. That is how I feel, if you don't then deal with it. See the usual brave armchair internet warriors are out nashing their milk teeth again - sure kick some on the web, instead of doing something meaningful - like getting a life.

Best protest IMHO is to email Lander (email address below) and copy a Chinese newspaper. Below is what I sent. Chinese hate to lose face landersports@lander.com.cn FAO: Mr. Gao Jisheng Dear Mr. Jisheng, It is with a very heavy heart that I write to you at this time. I am sure you are a very honourable man and have or had the very best intentions for Southampton Football Club at the time of your majority purchase of the club. However, as most fans and public at large, including the world media, would acknowledge, our dear club has arguably been at the lowest point in its history since your involvement. As a proud man, you cannot surely be content with the current state of affairs at our beloved club? However, you seem to show no signs whatsoever of being the least bit concerned, and arguably are happy to let the club fail? Why, pray why did you buy us? There has been no communication from you since our purchase – where are the five pledges that the clown of our chairman promised so long ago? Please, please show some backbone and act now – surely you have not been successful so far in your life by inaction? Failure I believe is a very poor trait in Chinese culture, and in your leader’s eyes. I implore you sir, please act and change the leadership team at Southampton FC or do the graceful thing and sell the club to someone who really cares. Whilst we might seem powerless, the fans of each and every club are its very foundation, and if you want to be remembered with anywhere near the kind of affection of our last Chairman (not his daughter) and that of Leicester, please please act now.

Ryobi = Southampton of the DIY garden tools. Sounds good, looks good, cheap, but F all use to get the job done - and keeps breaking down at the crucial moment!

Think we all know who the idiot is here.

Really? Ancient yes, but it is the very foundation of the oldest religions in the world (Hinduism, Buddish etc.). Bit like saying God or Christianity has no place in modern society - which may be your perfectly entitled belief, but that does make it so for everyone else. Each to his own, and that was what Hoddle was trying to say (albeit badly) at the time - anyway it was just an excuse for the FA to get shot of him - why they couldn't man up and just fire him is beyond me!

If you remotely think that's funny, you deserve all the Karma headed your way!

Wish they would shoot a few on here (not you)

Tactically spot on - give MH credit when it's due (not very often admittedly). Play when as an away side, and very unlucky not to win - we had some very decent chances.

Just some - would offer a prize for guessing who but most would be too obvious. Clue = just look at post count

Gao bought us because he wanted to curry favour with the Chinese president, and win local footballing infrastructure projects worth billions. Unfortunately for us the president has done a U turn and moved on from football and stopped money flowing out of China for sports particularly. So F all advantage in Gao owning us. His company is still doing ok with local projects but we bring him little or no advantage (also why investment in Chinese academies by him has stopped). We are small beer to him in the grand scheme of things - loan to buy us is already redistributed to several others, so his loss if we went tits up is small. He will sell at a profit if someone is foolish enough to buy us - several clubs have been on the market for years now (Newcastle, Chelsea etc.) and no one is interested. Otherwise we will just rot and fester and become a very poor club - relegation will just quicken this process, and we won't even be the south coast family friendly club that most feel sorry for!

Problem really is endemic throughout the entire club/set up, and the only way to recovery is to start at the top. If Gao does not want to change, then rest is merely shifting deck chairs on the Titanic. No one (and certainly not me) knows the real motivation behind his purchase of our club, and certainly should have been the first question at the fans forum should have been that, followed by where are the 5 pledges that were due in Feb Ralph? Even if we go by the popular theory Gao bought us to curry favour with the Chinese leader and get awarded lucrative local football projects, surely he realises that is better done via a success with us - who wants a failure to lead more projects (ok, other than Saints :-()? It would not cost Gao any more to change the leadership and get more accountability in to the running of our club. Also, where is Kat, who said she wanted to stay involved to ensure we progress? Something is not right - you do not spend £200M odd and let it just rot. After all, it is not loose change for him, and yes it is a loan, but currently still against him personally. Just don't get it. Wolves on the other hand are a much better example of Chinese investment and their owners more deserving of any local Chinese investment. Still at the end of the day, it's just another phase in our history, and hope I am still around for the next positive one which might be some time away unfortunately.

No point selling for the sake of it. Unless we have a plan to sell and replace with better than better to have him as an option. Our record of recruiting better (and I mean better than our squad not super stars) has been very poor of late. We would get what around £15M at best for JWP? That is surely enough to punt on an up and coming Championship player - no??

Live on Sky 402 in Ireland and free - not sure if same in other non UK counties?

I think you know what I meant. BTW we paid £10M for Gunn, so selling him for £50M in 2 to 3 years in this inflated market, when I expect he will be our #1 and pushing for an England place is not so far fetched, but then that wasn't my point as you well know. Whatever if it suits your agenda to trash posters that don't agree with a poor Moderator's view so be it, and fill your boots!

Very obvious - our new (or renewed) policy is to buy good potential and sell at a vast premium. Gunn will be sold at 5 to 10 times purchase price. FF will be a loss maker. If you want more proof, look more closely at our recent signings - all levels.

I guess you didn't watch the game then? After he left the field, we had zero outlet and were constantly under pressure in our own half, and had Palace (Benteke in particular) been more clinical, we would have lost. We were lucky today, but I guess you know better?

For all those dishing Long - since he has been off, we have no outlet - hence constantly under pressure. Would not be surprised by Palace goal or two

Around £1M at best

As I said elsewhere, we need the White Witch to top up her spell and we'll be fine! Mock all you like, but it worked last time.

I personally think Gao bought us as a means to an end (appease his Chairman) and unfortunately for him the political climate changed soon after, so he has an asset he does not care about or understand. Probably looking to off load us ASAP whilst trying to get a small profit if he can - unfortunately for him no one is interested in "small club" Southampton. He does not give two hoots about Saints, and zero chance he will invest anything in the club. Let the monkeys run the zoo, and his hope is another buyer will emerge, or over time his loan will be paid back, and he can the sell at a knock down price. Not a great business or sports strategy unfortunately.

Some very strange team selection, and what on earth has Joshi done to be completely blanked? Anyway I fear this more of an psychological issue - we are now a club with no identity, no real owner (who seems to care - bit like a jacket you bought in haste, and when you get home you think **** me why did I buy that, and stays in the wardrobe), no one in charge (who carries the can). Players so low on confidence, who would p*ss in their pants if you said boo to. We need some leadership and balls pretty dam quick (PDQ). Relegation would not solve anything, unless there is a complete change top to bottom. In nearly 30 years of supporting Saints, I can honestly say I am not looking forward to our next game - name one person in our club that would "die in the ditch" for Saints right now. I just hope I am still around for our eventual revival, which will come, but not for a long long time if the present structure in in place. I don't think the players or management are the fundamental issue - it's the ownership, accountability and ambition. Just think how you would feel, if the owner of your business never showed up, or told you his plan for the business, or frankly gave a dam, but said carry on as you were working for the clueless management I inherited, and your job is safe no matter how you perform. Oh and we will sell the best players at the first opportunity, but oh dear we have totally run out of those - ah well just what you like.

Maybe and he was wrong to dive, but what about the lack of protection from Ref for the fouls that preceded all that?